In one of Passeig de Gràcia’s modernist buildings, we will participate in a cooking workshop and learn to prepare two of Catalonia’s traditional dishes: esqueixada, a salad featuring cod and tomato among other ingredients, and crema catalana, a delicious dessert. We will watch the sunset aboard a catamaran. While aboard you can’t help but be tempted to enjoy a relaxing swim in the warm, peaceful Mediterranean waters, with breathtaking views stretching from Barcelona’s seafront to the backdrop of the Collserola mountain.

As we head down the mountain, we will set our sights on the lands of the DO Penedès, a territory with an ancient wine tradition based in the vineyards between Montserrat and the Mediterranean Sea. It is a pleasure to drive along the roads of this region of famous wines and Cavas, through a landscape of vineyards that sometime resemble a garden. Wine tourism is well established in Penedès, which offers an attractive range of wine tastings and experiences in many of its wineries. For the best panoramic views, we will take the Miravinya Route, which takes us past five viewpoints overlooking the vast vineyards and characteristic dry-stone buildings. In Sant Sadurní d’Anoia we will visit the Cava Interpretation Centre, located in an ancient distillery. This modern centre offers a wide range of information about the region’s offerings and the various festivals held with Cava as their central theme. An essential visit to discover the history of this terroir. Vilafranca del Penedès features one of the greatest associations of Castellers in Catalonia. To get closer to the culture of the “human towers” or castells we will participate in an interesting activity that involves visiting two locations: a wine cellar and a live rehearsal, with the option of participating in the construction of these great human towers. On the coast, it is worth stopping at Sitges, one of the most elegant towns on the Catalan coast.

We travel back to Roman times in Tarragona and visit the archaeological site of Tarraco: the amphitheatre facing the Mediterranean, the circus and the walls take us to the days when the emperor walked the city’s streets. The city, a World Heritage Site, hosts the annual Tarraco Viva festival, an important gathering dedicated to sharing history and recreating the classical world.

We will spend the late afternoon on the beautiful beaches of the Costa Daurada, joining the Camí de Ronda that runs from Tarragona towards Tamarit castle. The trail passes through beaches, small coves and the La Marquesa Forest Park, the only virgin natural area on this part of the Catalan coastline. Cambrils, an important culinary destination on the Costa Daurada, is a good choice if you want to try the traditional seafood cuisine. For a fun family experience, PortAventura World offers exciting attractions for all ages.

The route continues to the Delta de l’Ebre, one of the most valuable ecosystems on the peninsula, especially for the many species of birds that nest or pass through the area. We will visit Delta de l’Ebre Ecomuseum in Deltebre, to understand the unique nature of this landscape and our relationship with it. From one of the lookouts of this natural space, considered a Biosphere Reserve, we will enjoy magnificent views of the wetlands and the rice paddies that produce a product found in any good Delta meal. At sunset, a large flock of flamingos crosses the sky towards their roosts, where they will spend the night.

The next stop is Siurana, where we will hear a tale of Saracens, warriors and princesses as we walk through this small cliff-top town views of the eponymous wetlands. The village is surrounded by mountains of reddish limestone rock, featuring some of the world’s most famous rock-climbing routes. We will drive along the roads that cross the landscape of the Prades Mountains to Poblet, one of the three monasteries along the Cistercian Route, still inhabited by monks today. The monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most complete Cistercian abbeys in the world. A short drive from Poblet is Montblanc, where the town’s walled centre is well worth a visit, especially during the feast of Sant Jordi. The last stop of the day will be in Valls, a town of castells, huge human towers reaching ten stories high, and calçots, a variety of spring onions that gather family and friends around the table during the calçotades feasts between November and April.

After a stroll through the town centre, we’ll get driving again to enjoy the panoramic road between Balaguer and Baronia de Sant Oïsme, an itinerary of beautiful landscapes with views over the Segre river and the Camarasa swamp, next to the Montsec mountain range. The skies in this area are an official Starlight Reserve and offer opportunities for astronomical observation. In the spectacular Congost de Mont-rebei, an iconic Catalonian gorge, we will go kayaking on the Noguera Ribagorçana river, paddling alongside the imposing stone cliffs on either side of the river. The gorge can also be experienced on foot thanks to a system of elevated walkways. We will end the day in La Pobla de Segur, where before dinner we will learn to make ratafia, the famous herbal Catalan liqueur.

The afternoon will be reserved for the Vall de Boí Romanesque, which features on the UNESCO World Heritage list. These small temples, including eight churches and a charming chapel, connect us to the Middle Ages, when Romanesque art was an expression of faith. We will visit the church of Sant Climent de Taüll, where we will gaze at the famous Christ in Majesty, which looks as if it were painted yesterday thanks to the use of video mapping. It’s a moving experience to see how the interior may have originally looked. Sant Climent will pique our appetite for more Romanesque art, so we’ll head to the church of Santa Eulàlia, with its slender Lombard tower, and to the chapel of Sant Quirc de Durro, where sunset offers cascading pink tones over the Pyrenean peaks.

The Val d’Aran is home to an ancient culture, but above all it features pure air and mountain landscapes. To see it in all its splendour, we will take a walk to Montgarri. This picturesque Pyrenean village, inhabited until the1970s, lies at the headwaters of the Noguera Pallaresa river and is now an idyllic and relatively isolated location. The trail runs through a beautiful high-mountain landscape, featuring forests of black pine and fir trees. In the winter months, it is a popular spot for snow shoeing and dog sledding. At the Montgarri shelter we will enjoy one of the area’s famous recipes olla aranesa. In the afternoon, we will return to Vielha, the capital of Val d’Aran, where we can purchase some traditional sausages and relax with a well-deserved hot tub session in the hotel spa.

We are heading to La Seu d’Urgell, where after passing through St Mary’s Cathedral, the only completely Romanesque cathedral still standing in Catalonia, we’ll want to sample some local specialities, such as cheeses from the Alt Urgell i La Cerdanya PDOs, the only cheese protected denomination of origin in Catalonia. The producers themselves will tell us how they are made and, even more excitingly, let us know how they taste. In the afternoon, we will drive through some of the little stone villages of La Cerdanya. These are places with short, charming names, such as Talló, Prullans, Pi, Bor, Riu, Alp and Urtx, which have always been nestled under the peaks of the Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park. On the south side of the park, perched above a crown of fir trees and beeches, stands the majestic Pedraforca, one of Catalonia’s most iconic peaks. Between Puigcerdà, a town with a beautiful lake, and Figueres, the roads run in the shadow of the Pyrenees and give plenty of reasons to stop off: the Llobregat fountains and the industrial colonies in Castellar de n’Hug, the Romanesque façade of Santa María de Ripoll and Castellfolit de la Roca, a town at the edge of a dizzying cliff.

One of the transit points on this old trade route, which runs from Portbou to Blanes, is the beautiful town of Portlligat, which we will enter via road with a panoramic view from Cap de Creus. Dalí and Gala were married in this modest fishing village and resided there for more than thirty years. On a visit to his Museum-House, with its labyrinthine architecture and mismatched rooms, we discover that the artist worked with surrealism not only in his art, but also in his own life. We will spend the afternoon strolling through the picturesque town of Cadaqués. At sunset, we will seek refuge in a restaurant where we’ll enjoy a delicious taste of local seafood and wines from the DO Empordà.

The charming medieval villages of Empordanet can be explored in various ways, on foot, via guided tours specialising in cultural heritage or ceramics, by car and even in a hot-air balloon. We will choose to park the car and visit them on electric bicycles, known as “burricletas”. In Peratallada, we’ll be taken back to the days when gentlemen, noblemen and masters walked the streets; from Pals, a village of whose walls give it an unmistakable silhouette, we’ll enjoy views of the Empordà planes, the Montgrí and the Medes islands. Back on the coast we’ll enter Calella de Palafrugell, a town on the official Charming Villages of Catalonia list along with the two mentioned above. Our guide explains that the great writer Josep Pla spent the summers of his childhood in this seaside town, with its white-washed country homes and traditional habanera music. If you’re looking for a more active option, you can walk the wildest stretch of the Camí de Ronda, between Llafranc and Palamós, through such spectacular locations as the small fishing centre of S’Alguer and rocky coves and turquoise waters such as those at Canyers or Els Corbs.

We’ll continue on to Vic and head to the Plaça Major, where a lively market is held every Tuesday and Saturday. We’ll enter a century-old drying room and learn to make two of the town’s famous sausages, the llonganissa and the fuet. The next stop along the way is in Sant Fruitós de Bages, where we’ll have the chance to do one of those once-in-a-lifetime activities: a parachute jump from 4,000 metres high, with views of the Pyrenees and Montserrat during the descent. For those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground, we recommend a visit to the Vall del Montcau “tines”, large dry stone constructions in which wine was once made at the foot of the vineyard, or Sant Benet de Bages, a very well-preserved medieval monastery where you can discover the monastery’s wine making history and try the wines of the DO Pla de Bages. Moving south, we’ll have the chance to visit Mura, one of the official Charming Villages, and the Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac Natural Park, a conglomerate rock landscape featuring formations reminiscent of those at Montserrat. Another interesting way to get to Barcelona from Vic is to go via the Costa Maresme and the Montseny Natural Park, a natural biosphere reserve featured on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. At the Maresme we will find peaceful, sandy beaches and towns with excellent modernist heritage.

We will spend the next hours pausing to visit one of the best exhibition spaces in Barcelona, the Miró Foundation. It was created based on the painter’s private collection, now complemented by works from contemporary artists. Another interesting option is the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), which presents over a thousand years of art history thanks to one of the world’s best collections of Romanesque art. We have decided to say goodbye to Barcelona as we started our journey, from above. Travelling in the cabin of the Montjuïc cable car we will enjoy stunning views of the city. We will descend on the Mirador, passing through leafy green areas from which we can enjoy the sunset and watch the iconic buildings of this Mediterranean city.